Days before scheduled end of session, lawmakers propose new ethics reforms

Adriana Colindres

Thursday

May 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMMay 28, 2009 at 11:10 AM

With the fate of various government-reform plans still uncertain, two Democrats say they'll push for lawmakers' approval of two additional ideas – neither of them included in recommendations from a panel that Gov. Pat Quinn created.

With the fate of various government-reform plans still uncertain, two Democrats say they'll push for lawmakers' approval of two additional ideas – neither of them included in recommendations from a panel that Gov. Pat Quinn created.

The proposals emerged on Wednesday. One would ask voters if they want the power to recall a sitting governor from office before his or her term expires. The other aims to add transparency to the process of making gubernatorial appointments to state boards and commissions.

Quinn is on board with both proposals, Rep. Jack Franks and Sen. Susan Garrett said at a State Capitol news conference Wednesday. Quinn aides also participated in the news conference.

Too often, politically influential people wind up winning those appointments, said Garrett, a D-Lake Forest. They can turn out to be corrupt, she said, citing as examples Stuart Levine and Tony Rezko, onetime state board appointees who got accused of influence peddling during the Blagojevich administration.

Garrett said the amended version of Senate Bill 1602 will "ensure the process isn't dominated by insiders."

The recall proposal is a scaled-down version of legislation that lawmakers debated but never passed in 2008, said Franks, D-Marengo. It is House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 31.

"We must give citizens the right to take their government back," Franks said. "If any state needs to give voters the power to recall, it's Illinois because of our long history of malfeasance in office."

If voters decide they want the power to recall a sitting governor, exercising that authority would require them to collect thousands of signatures on petitions. The minimum threshold would be 15 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election.

Last year, two larger-scale recall plans surfaced in the General Assembly, but neither attracted enough support from lawmakers.

The Illinois Reform Commission, a panel that Quinn formed this year to help fix state government, should have issued recommendations dealing with recall and gubernatorial appointments to boards and commissions, Franks and Garrett said.

"If you're going to look at reforms, why not go to ensuring that the process to appoint these members of these important boards and commissions is transparent, open and honest?" Garrett said. "It just seems to me that would be a No. 1 issue that they would address."

Reform Commission Chairman Patrick Collins couldn't be reached for comment on Wednesday. He has said previously that most members of the panel favor adding a recall provision to the state Constitution, but the commission made recommendations only in areas where members had unanimous or "near-unanimous" agreement.

Garrett and Franks said they think lawmakers will approve their proposals before wrapping up the spring session. Adjournment is scheduled for Sunday.

Lawmakers are expected to take up other reform-related legislation Thursday.

Sen. Don Harmon, the Senate Democrats' negotiator on campaign finance, predicted lawmakers would consider a proposal that includes contribution limits – likely $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for organizations. Those caps would be higher than what the Reform Commission recommended.

Existing state law doesn't impose any limits on campaign contributions.

Still unsettled as of Wednesday was whether to restrict the amount of money that political committees, including those controlled by legislative leaders, can transfer to each other, Harmon said.

"That's been the bone of contention," said Harmon, of Oak Park. "The negotiations are ongoing and I remain hopeful that we'll pass a meaningful bill (Thursday)."

Adriana Colindres can be reached at (217) 782-6292 or adriana.colindres@sj-r.com.

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